Feeding tubes: PEG

For short term feeding, NG and NJ tubes tend to be used but for long term artificial feeding, a PEG is one of the main options. PEG stands for percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy which means it’s inserted with a needle through your skin with the help of an endoscopy and creates an artificial external opening into the stomach. You may also hear this called a g-tube, particularly I think in America.

The process

The process of putting in the PEG is normally very straightforward. You get given some sedation to make you drowsy and then hopefully you remember nothing. But if you’ve had an endoscopy before then it’s much the same except they also make a hole in your tummy which will have been given local anaesthetic. My first attempt didn’t work as my stomach wasn’t quite where it was supposed to be…

When you come round you’ll feel sore, after all you’ve had a hole put in your stomach which goes through skin, fat, muscle and the stomach wall. You may experience trapped wind which is very common after the procedure and there will be pus and fluid around the site. The hospital will advise you about how to care for the site, when you can wash it etc.

If you can, the best thing to do to help yourself feel better is to move around. It’ll hurt but it’ll help. Pelvic floor exercises are another suggestion and I found variations on the knees to chest yoga pose (with gentle rocking back and forth and side to side) and ‘windscreen wiper’ pose helped with pain and with strengthening my core.

My PEG

I’ve had my PEG exactly four weeks and I’m pretty much pain free around the site. When I had mine inserted I was very weak and had lost a lot of strength and muscle tone etc so I would think if you have the procedure done when you are healthier, you won’t have much recovery time at all.

As well as keeping the site clean, you’ll also need to advance and rotate it at least once a week. You’ll be shown how to do this and it’s really easy. I was a bit worried it would hurt (the tube gets pushed into your tummy and turned so that it doesn’t get stuck in your stomach wall) but it doesn’t. It can feel a bit strange, especially if you think about it too much, but no pain.

The feed

I’ve touched on feed already when I talked about NG and NJ tubes but I wanted to say a bit more. There seems to be a trend in the US to blend your own feed but in the UK I think it’s standard practice to use the packaged bags of feed from nutrition companies.

There are various makes and what you end up with will most likely depend on which company your hospital buys from. Your dietician will work with you to find the feed which meets your nutritional needs and which agrees with your body. It comes in bags and bottles and does not look anything like food. It doesn’t smell nice and it’s a funny colour, but in a lot of cases it’s probably saving your life so these things don’t matter so much.

The feed gets into you via a pump and you and anyone else who might use it can be trained although it’s very straightforward.

At some point, you will spill some of the feed. In my case, when I was in hospital, the PEG came detached from the feed and it went all over my bed. You may not want to, given it’s likely the middle of the night, but act quickly. The feed dries like cement and it will stain things. Be especially quick with teddies, mine still bears a grudge about the feed which ended up in his ear…!

The other vulnerability to spillage comes if you forget to put the clamp on when you’re putting water or medication down the tube. I have a towel with all my peg equipment so that every time we do something with the tube, we put a towel on my knee.

A lot of people who are on artificial feed are fed overnight. This means it doesn’t impact on your life as much, although if you are being fed during the day there are backpacks and things which can make your life easier.

Eating, or missing eating

“Many of us have odd habits to kick the drive for oral consumption such as gum, flavored drinks, lozenges, hard candies, or even chewing up food and spitting it out!”
– Tube Fed Wife

I can eat a little and can drink a lot of stuff so I’m making use of that to get flavour into my life. For example, ice pops can be made at home in all kinds of flavours. And crisps which dissolve in your mouth like cheetos and skips can be easy to eat and give you a satisfying crunch. I’ve been able to go back to eating sweet potato chips provided that I don’t get them too crispy and I don’t try and eat many at once. Adding in melted cheese also provides some lubrication which can help with swallowing.

If you or someone you know is being fed by a tube, remember that food is often much more than nutrition. It can be a social activity, it can be routine, it can be celebration and you’ll need to think about how you can enjoy these things despite the feeding tube.

I had a long lead up to my feeding tube so had some time to think about these things and how I would cope with them. Because I can still eat a little and I can drink, it’s not going to be so hard as it might be. When I go out with friends I can have a drink and watch them eat. I’ve got a long history of eating difficulties anyway so I’m used to going for a meal and ending up with just a plate of chips. This isn’t going to be a big adjustment for me. Also, my social life doesn’t really revolve around food. The same is true for celebration. But if your life does, then having something to suck on for flavour or chewing gum or similar may help you feel more involved or bring your feeding tube into the celebrations!

And there is always the option to chew and discretely spit out your food. Do it into napkins or take a little tub (with lid) along with you. If you can have a tiny taster of something then do that, even if it means you’re having ice cream whilst everyone else tucks into a takeaway.

But also, look after yourself. If you know that your friends are going to your favourite restaurant of all time and that it’s going to be upsetting to be there and not be able to eat, then join them after. And talk to your friends and family. This is likely to be an adjustment for them, especially if you always meet for coffee and cake. Explain what you feel comfortable with and if you aren’t ready for food related socialising, have a think about what else you could do together and how else you could celebrateevents.